Nine Tech Stocks Power 2026 US Profit Upgrades, Memory Chips Jump 50%: Evercore

Only nine technology companies are driving the bulk of upward revisions to 2026 earnings estimates, according to Evercore ISI strategist Julian Emanuel. Memory chip manufacturers lead the surge: Analysts have raised 2026 profit forecasts by more than 50% for Sandisk (SNDK), Micron Technology (MU), Lumentum (LITE), Intel (INTC), Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate Technology (STX). Internet giants also contributed: Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (META) saw their 2026 EPS estimates hiked by 25% and 10%, respectively, after recent earnings, while Amazon (AMZN) gained 10%. The optimism is fueled by projected AI capital spending of $520 billion in 2026 from five hyperscalers—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL)—up 30% year-over-year. Morgan Stanley data shows 21% of S&P 500 companies now cite specific profit gains from AI, double the 10% in 2024. PwC finds that heavy AI adopters enjoy profit margins nearly 4 percentage points higher. However, the outsized influence of a small group of stocks underscores the market's concentration risk.